Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint Exploring New Connections in Leadership and Organizational Transition: A Case Study Webinar for Board, Staff, Consultants & Funders Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint Join the conversation; share what you’ve learned! Use our hashtag #smarttransition

A Conversation in 5 Parts (90 minutes) 1. THE PREMISE OF THIS WORK Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint 2. CASE STUDY: CHILDREN’S INN Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. – Moderator Jennie Lucca, CEO Kelvin Womack, Board Member Holly Cobb Parker, Board Member 3. CASE STUDY: MAG Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint – Moderator Gayle Williams, Board Member 4. RESPONSE PANEL Rachel Gibson, Senior Consultant, Raffa; Deb Linnell, Senior Program Officer, van Beuren Charitable Foundation; Marissa Tirona, Program Officer, BUILD, Ford Foundation; and Linda Wood, Senior Director 5. Q & A Ruth McCambridge, Editor in Chief, Nonprofit Quarterly #smarttransition

Part One: The Premise Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint #smarttransition

Exploring new and evolving connections around transition. Challenging our organizations on who leads and with what leadership beliefs and practices. Evolving Leadership Ethos Organizational Transitions Leadership Transitions Proactively refining organizational strategy and business model to respond to stakeholder needs and the operating context. Adapting organizational culture and systems in concert. Preparing for 10% executive turnover across the sector annually. Recruiting and developing leaders through ongoing succession planning. #smarttransition

What do we mean by ETM and “Allied Services?” Sustainability Planning Succession Planning High Mission Impact Executive Search and Transition #smarttransition

Leadership & Organizational Transitions: 4 Key Terms Executive transition and search – three-phase support for change from one executive to another with attendant organizational changes. Succession planning- ongoing attention to leader continuity and development through attention to planned and unplanned leader changes and the culture and ethos of leadership in the organization, including attention to diversity and inclusion practices. Succession planning definition at end. Such planning mat include the use of an intentional interim leader as CEO or in other key management positions.  Sustainability planning – ongoing attention to the long-term mission capacity of the organization and changes in leadership, strategy and business model, culture and resources. Strategic planning – annual and periodic reviews of connection between mission, desired results and strategies for achieving results. #smarttransition

Leadership Ethos Shared leadership- a leadership style that broadly distributes leadership responsibility…frequently contrasted with more traditional "vertical" or hierarchical" leadership that resides predominantly with an individual instead of a group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_leadership Diversity-  the demographic mix of a specific collection of people, taking into account elements of human difference, but focusing particularly on: racial and ethnic groups, LGBT populations, people with disabilities, and women. http://www.d5coalition.org/tools/dei/ Equity – improving equity is to promote justice, impartiality and fairness within the procedures, processes, and distribution of resources by institutions or systems. http://www.d5coalition.org/tools/dei/ DEFINING ‘ETHOS:’ “the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period” “This shift—from competition to collaboration, from single issues to intersectionality, from scarcity to collective abundance—requires something different from us as actors for justice …” https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/04/13/five-elements-of-a-thriving-justice-ecosystem-pursuing-deep-equity/ #smarttransition

Part Two: Children’s Inn Tom Adams, Raffa P.C. – Moderator Jennie Lucca, CEO Kelvin Womack, Board Member Holly Cobb Parker, Board Member #smarttransition

Transition Milestones & Timeline Founding Board Member becomes CEO 2005 Discussions of Board Reorg Begun 2012 Board Succession/ Sustainability Task Force Established 2013 Three (3) “Chief” Positions Established to Build Leadership Capacity 2014 Board Reorg Plan Adopted by Board CEO Transition Committee Selects Internal Candidate/ Exit Planning with Outgoing CEO 2015 Onboarding of New CEO and Completion of Board Reorg Board Diversity Education Initiative 2017 #smarttransition

Speaker: Jennie Lucca, CEO Predecessor Founder CEO Preparation for her own transition Investment in successor’s professional development and preparation Speaker: Jennie Lucca, CEO #smarttransition

Speaker: Holly Cobb Parker, Board Member Culture of the board before transitions Board Reorganization Plan Expectations of external search and role of consultant Speaker: Holly Cobb Parker, Board Member #smarttransition

Speaker: Kelvin Womack, Board Member Concerns about not doing an External Search Experience as board chair working with incoming executive and role of consultant in supporting onboarding Board Diversity Initiative Speaker: Kelvin Womack, Board Member #smarttransition

Speaker: Jennie Lucca, CEO Trustee Role for Board Members Sharing leadership with Staff Culture of support for new ED Speaker: Jennie Lucca, CEO #smarttransition

Summary of Transition Impacts Major board reorganization and a founder CEO transition in a way that advanced mission impact, financial resources, and the reputation of the Children’s Inn. Embraced the best of the founder era leadership while evolving the culture of leader development and shared leadership. Facilitated a board generational hand-off while maintaining positive relations across generations. Recognized and addressed need to attend to greater diversity and inclusion. #smarttransition

Part Three: MAG Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint – Moderator Gayle Williams, Board Member #smarttransition

Transition Milestones & Timeline Future CO-Directors independently working on shared leadership methods 2008 Previous Executive Director Decides to Step Down 2014 Board & Staff Determine Need to Evolve Business Model and Hire Consultant Board Member becomes Interim Executive Director 2015 Senior Staff Co-create Internal, Shared Leadership Proposal IED Supports Full Board in Grappling with Shared Leadership Consultant Convenes Board-Staff Fishbowl on Shared Leadership Proposal Board Agrees to Try Co-Directors and Sets Benchmarks 2015 #smarttransition

Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive Imagining “MAG 2.0” Design-thinking consultant Executive departure Your Interim Executive role Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive #smarttransition

Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive Expectations of external search Internal shared leadership proposal Fishbowl of board and staff Your role in building alignment Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive #smarttransition

Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive Setting up experiments and benchmarks for new Co-Directors Leadership structure reflecting MAG’s mission impact Lessons learned around Co- Directorship Speaker: Gayle Williams, Board Member & Former Interim Executive #smarttransition

Summary of Transition Impacts Successful repositioning of the organization and its programming. Significant staff growth and increase in financial sustainability. Successfully modeling Co-Directorship for the broader sector. #smarttransition

Part Four: Response Panel Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint – Moderator Rachel Gibson, Senior Consultant, Raffa; Deb Linnell, Senior Program Officer, VCB Foundation; Marissa Tirona, Program Officer, BUILD, Ford Foundation; and Linda Wood, Senior Director #smarttransition

Speaker: Rachael Gibson Senior Consultant Consultant’s role in discerning and connecting leadership and organizational transitions Challenge for boards and staff to go deeper on leadership ethos so there is real change in practices and behaviors Unique role of consultants in working with founder and long-tenured executive transitions Speaker: Rachael Gibson Senior Consultant #smarttransition

Locating leadership transition in a larger sustainability framework Data on what new ED’s inherit from the Leadership New England study Funder investment in the long arc of sustainability Speaker: Deb Linnell Senior Program Officer, van Beuren Charitable Foundation #smarttransition

Speaker: Linda Wood Senior Director, Haas Leadership Initiatives Transition implications of the new research from Building Movement Project, Race to Lead http://www.buildingmovement.org/tag/race+to+lead Baking race equity into organizational strategy Speaker: Linda Wood Senior Director, Haas Leadership Initiatives #smarttransition

Speaker: Marissa Tirona Program Officer, BUILD at the Ford Foundation Leadership Belief: Exploring and Navigating Power, Privilege, and Oppression Leadership Practice: Complexity Theory and Emergent Thinking #smarttransition

Part Five: Q & A and Resources Join the conversation; share what you’ve learned using our hashtag #smarttransition Part Five: Q & A and Resources Ruth McCambridge, The Nonprofit Quarterly – Moderator #smarttransition

Read further and engage online Our two previous Nonprofit Quarterly webinars on this topic: Nonprofit Leadership Transitions and Organizational Sustainability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyUoL_RysCI Reframing Nonprofit Leadership Succession: The Ultimate Strategic Hedge Against a “Bad CEO Hire” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSevXQIYCsg #smarttransition

Read further and engage online The Evolution of Executive Transition and Allied Practices: A Call for Service Integration by Tom Adams, Director at Raffa, P.C. https://www.raffa.com/successionandsustainability/documents/executivetransition report.pdf Will We Get There Hire by Hire? Reflections on Executive Leadership and Transition Data over 15 years by Jeanne Bell, Paola Cubías, Byron Johnson 5 Insights From Directors Sharing Power by Jeanne Bell, Paola Cubías, Byron Johnson https://www.compasspoint.org/RevisitingET #smarttransition

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